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Ties with Pak currently not conducive for talks: PM

August 29, 2009 14:15 IST

Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh said on Saturday that relations with Pakistan are currently not conducive for the two sides to have talks at any level.

Dr Singh's comments on the sidelines of a function in Barmer, Rajasthan, came even as the trial of five 26/11 accused commenced in a Pakistani anti-terror court.

The court is hearing the case against five Lashkar-e-Tayiba operatives, including its operations chief Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, in connection with the Mumbai attacks.

Details of the hearing, which was being held in-camera at the anti-terror court no 2 in the high-security Adiala Jail in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, were hard to get as the court slapped gag orders on lawyers. During the last hearing on July 25 as well, the journalists were barred from covering the trial which is being conducted inside the prison for security reasons.

Counsel for the Federal Investigation Agency, which probed the Mumbai attacks and arrested the five Lashkar operatives, had argued that the proceedings should be conducted in-camera in view of the sensitivity of the matter. The judge accepted this.

While Lakhvi is accused of masterminding the attack, the four others, including LeT''s communications expert Zarar Shah, Abu al-Qama, Hamad Amin Sadiq and Shahid Jamil Riaz are being charged as facilitators, manager of funds and for locating hideouts for the attackers.'s Rawalpindi city.

The Prime Minister's comment also assumes significance in the wake of Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik's shocking statement that India could have avoided Mumbai terror attack provided it shared prior intelligence information with the country.

"If only New Delhi would have given us all the prior information it had about the imminent attack, India could have avoided it altogether," Malik said at a press conference in London earlier this week.

Asked why Pakistan didn't act against the 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed, Malik said, "To act against Saeed, India needs to give us tangible evidence that can stand the test of Pakistan courts. We need to examine the evidence provided by India on the basis of which Interpol issued a Red Corner Notice against Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed."

Responding to the Red Corner Notice issued for Saeed by the Interpol, Malik said, "We will examine it (the Red Corner Notice). Pakistan would never allow anyone to use its territory for terrorist activities 'neither against India nor any other country."